DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. -- An autopsy is planned Tuesday on the body of a missing hiker found in a wooded area of north area.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday night that Gary Michael Hilton led authorities to the body of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson.

GBI officials told Channel 2 that after speaking with Hilton after his court appearance Monday afternoon, they took Hilton to Dawson State Forest and he helped them locate Emerson's body Monday night.

The 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate had been missing since New Year's Day.

Officials said her body was found in Dawson State Forest in Dawson County -- the same place searchers were looking Monday. Authorities said they began to search the area after citizens reported seeing Hilton's van there.

"At appoximately 7:30 this evening, the body of Meredith Emerson was discovered in a wooded area inside Dawson Forest in Dawson County," GBI Special Agent In Charge John Cagle said. GBI Director Vernon Keenan said Emerson's family was informed immediately after her body was found.

"The body was discovered by GBI agents, DNR rangers and Dawson County deputies," said Cagle. "This area is an active crime scene being worked by GBI Crime Scene specialists this evening."

Officials would not say how Emerson died. An autopsy will be performed Tuesday morning.

"The specific information given, as to the location of the body, was given to me by Gary Hilton," said Cagle.

The discovery came just hours after a judge denied bond for Hilton.

Hilton made that first court appearance at the Union County Courthouse, apprearing in shackles and an orange jail jumpsuit. The suspect glanced around the courtroom during the hearing, but did not speak.

At the end of the eleven-minute hearing, Hilton thanked his attorney, who is a public defender assigned to the case early in an attempt to encourage Hilton's cooperation with authorities to find Emerson.

Just hours before that hearing Emerson's father made a plea Monday for the public to help find his daugher.

"I appeal to everyone to search their hearts and memories for anything they can remember and do to help us find Meredith and return her home," said Dave Emerson during a news conference near the trail where the 24-year-old hiker was last seen alive.

He also thanked the authorities leading the search for his daugher for what he called their "professional handling" of the situation.

Clues Adding Up

Police said Hilton tried to use the missing hiker's credit card at two ATMs, one in Canton and another in Gainesville on the day she disappeared, according to Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton.

In additon, Paxton said that Hilton made a call at 4:30 Friday afternoon from a public phone at the QuikTrip store in Cumming where bloody clothes and Emerson's wallet were found on Saturday in a dumpster.

A new witness has come foward to say she saw Emerson's dog in that area around 2:30 that same afternoon; leading police to believe Hilton spent at least two hours in the Cumming area.

Police believed Emerson was dead after finding her blood-soaked clothing Saturday.

Shortly after finding the bloody clothes authorities charged Hilton with her kidnapping.

Officers also found Emerson's wallet with her driver's license and her University of Georgia ID, as well as part of a blood-stained seat belt in a trash bin outside a QuikTrip convenience store in Cumming. When police searched Hilton's van they found a seat belt with a section missing.

When Hilton was picked up by police he was washing out his van with a bleach and water solution, according to the arrest warrant.

Hilton is charged with kidnapping with intent of bodily injury, but District Attorney Stan Gunter said earlier that it is likely that he could face additional charges in the 24-year-old Emerson's disappearance.

Other Murders Investigated

Dawson County deputies told Channel 2's John Bachman Emerson's body was found just a mile and a half away from where 11-year-old Levi Frady's body was found in 1997. His murder was never solved. The Georgia Amber Alert system -- Levi's call -- was named after him.

Investigators are looking for connections between Hilton and a number of unsolved murders -- including the murder of Patrice Endres.

Endres disappeared from her Forsyth County beauty shop nearly four years ago. Her remains were discovered eight months later in Dawson County. Police have never charged anyone.

"I don't know the man but if he truly is responsible for Patrice that will be wonderful, because there needs to be justice brought to the person who did such a vile thing to such a beautiful and caring woman," said Patrice's husband Rob Endres.

One thing investigators are looking into is the fact some of the locations in the Emerson case and the Endres murder are relatively close.

Emerson's case is having an impact on murder investigations in at least two other states. Investigators believe John and Irene Bryant were killed while hiking near Asheville, North Carolina in October. North Carolina investigators were at the GBI's investigative office in White County Monday to talk about the case.

Now, Florida agents will be heading to the GBI's office to discuss the case of a woman found murdered last month in a north Florida forest. Tallahassee officials said someone found Cheryl Dunlap's body in the Appalachicola National Forest two weeks after her car was found with a flat tire.